This article first appeared in on March 19.
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Aboriginal leaders in the Northern Territory have issued a strong warning that the Australian government鈥檚 new land grab in the form of the proposed 10-year extension of the intervention will send many communities into a dangerous downward spiral with still more death and misery.
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When you are the Only Democracy in the Middle EastTM you don鈥檛 need to worry about petty little things such as human rights. And so ABC Online reported on March 27 that .
The final outrage that forced Israel to cut ties was a UNHRC vote in favour of investigating whether illegal Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank were, in fact, infringing the rights of Palestinians.
In several places around world, students are rising up, fighting for their rights and demanding real change.
In Quebec, university students have mobilised in record numbers to oppose attacks on their education. The government of Premier Jean Charest plans to introduce a massive 75% hike in tertiary education fees 鈥 on the back of fee increases of C$100 a year for the past five years.
In response, 200,000 students and supporters marched to oppose the cuts on March 22. By March 29, about 300,000 students had gone on strike, boycotting their classes to protest the fee hikes.
The African country of Mali suffered a coup d'etat against its elected government on March 21.
Mali, a landlocked former French colony in western Africa with a population of 15 million, was one month away from a national election. The coup was carried out by the country鈥檚 armed forces.
The Cocos (Keeling) Islands is a tiny group of coral atolls in the Indian Ocean 2800 kilometres north-west of Perth and 900 kilometres from Java. It has a population of about 600.
These islands were nominally a British territory between 1858 and 1955, when they were transferred by a British act of parliament to Australia. Yet for the next 17 years, the Australian government allowed the islands to 鈥 just as the British had for 100 years before then.
Phil Harrington is an economist, climate change policy analyst, consultant and activist with Climate Action Hobart. 麻豆传媒 Weekly鈥檚 Susan Austin asked him about his views on the federal government鈥檚 carbon pricing package and how to respond to it.
What do you think of the carbon pricing scheme that is being introduced?
It鈥檚 way too little, way too late. It is designed to give the appearance of action and is being used by the government to justify the position 鈥渨e鈥檝e fixed that now鈥 鈥 but in fact nothing is fixed.
On the afternoon of March 30, Friends of the Earth campaigner Cam Walker said on Twitter: 鈥淭his has been the week from hell for climate change politics in Vic. There's still a few working hours, maybe a nuke power plant is next?鈥
Climate targets, standards abandoned
Global opposition to unconventional gas mining is growing fast. Impacts on water, food, health and the environment, associated seismic risks and climate change contribution are just some of the many reasons.
Meanwhile, the industry is growing. Its potential growth in Australia is enormous, with large known reserves and billions to be made.
The death of 21-year-old Brazilian student Roberto Laudisio Curti in a central Sydney street, after six police tasered him at least three times, has highlighted the rising use of Tasers by police and security in Australia and worldwide.
The deadly confrontation with Curti on March 18 has now been revealed as a case of 鈥渕istaken identity鈥 over the theft of a packet of biscuits. Curti was also capsicum sprayed, and was running from police when he was tasered multiple times in the back.
A movement for Aboriginal sovereignty has galvanised around the February 12 formation of the Nyoongar Tent Embassy in Perth.
The embassy was directly inspired by two developments: the 40th anniversary of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra, which promoted a national push for Aboriginal sovereignty, and the February 8 report about negotiations between the state government and the South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council (SWALSC) about Nyoongar native title.
Poultry industry union delegates in the National Union of Workers (NUW) and supporters met on March 27 to launch a report outlining the basis for the union鈥檚 鈥淏etter Jobs 4 Better Chicken鈥 campaign.
Late last year, NUW members at Baiada Poultry took strike action over conditions of employment and wages, citing widespread use of cash-in-hand work at rates well below the minimum wage.
鈥淚 used to go fishing. I used to go to community meetings. I stopped doing that. I am tired because most of the time I am doing overtime.鈥 Gamal Babiker, Cleaner.
Cleaners working for contracting giant Spotless walked from Chadstone to Melbourne鈥檚 CBD on March 26 to highlight the brutal workloads that force them to walk the same huge distances in their jobs every single day.
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